In “Very Good Girls,” Dakota Fanning plays Lilly Berger, a young woman who falls in love with the same man as her best friend, Gerri Fields (Elizabeth Olsen). The film delves into issues of sexuality and does so with various instances of nudity, with one scene standing out without actually showing anything, through the use of careful camera placement and editing. It involves Lilly and Gerri running naked on the beach into the water.
Looking at the scene, it’s not unusual, nor is there any indication the actors weren’t actually naked. In truth, they wore bathing suits, which were edited out during post-production. Still, because it wasn’t clearly digitally altered, the press pounced on the young actor, as it was her first nude scene. She discussed it with MTV News at the Sundance Film Festival, saying, “I’ve never done that before, and I’m very newly allowed to do that. I was newly 18, so yeah, it’s kind of a sensitive thing, but it’s a part of life.”
Fanning spoke to Vulture about the scene, explaining, “It’s, like, complicated. It’s kind of mine,” referring to her exposed rear end. Director Naomi Foner expanded on Fanning’s comments, saying, “They weren’t actually naked,” explaining how they wore bathing suits. “They painted the bathing suit out — it’s CGI.” Fanning’s co-star, Olsen, also admitted to working with a body double for shots of her butt and explained that CGI took care of anything happening under the water.
